Northstar Archives - Page 2 of 2 - Robot 6 @ Comic Book Resources

Don’t ask me how I missed this when it originally came out years ago, but I recently discovered this fun little webcomic Powerpuff Girls: Battery Powered by a writer using the non-de-plum Northstar and artist Christine Larsen.

While it’s described by the artist as a “demented spoof off” of the classic Cartoon Network series, younger readers should be warned it contains violence, nudity and a heaping helping of crudeness. Of course, those who grew up during the original airing of the Powerpuff Girls are probably old enough — 18, please! — to enjoy this.

Although the chances of the creators being able to officially publish this are somewhere between slim and none, I applaud the attempt for creators to revisit work they’re familiar with and revise it for their own needs, a la League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Plus, I’ve always wondered what those three girls would be like all grown up.

At AfterElton.com, X-Factor writer discusses the relationship between Rictor and Shatterstar, and recalls the immediate ramifications at Marvel of Northstar’s much-publicized 1992 outing:

Alpha Flight #106

When you really get down to it, the concept of a fictional character announcing that he’s gay should not be national news. He’s fictional. It’s like Dan Quayle saying that Murphy Brown’s actions are a poor guide to single mothers. She’s fictional. But nevertheless, it wound up making national news and blowback from that came as a result of a major retail chain – and I’m not refusing to name it because I’m trying to cover their asses, I’m refusing to name them because I don’t remember … as they say, “I didn’t know there’d be a quiz.”

This major retail chain informed Marvel they were going to cease carrying – and this just gives you an idea of the kind of homophobia that pervades corporate America – they informed Marvel they were going to cease carrying any mutant toys because they didn’t want to risk being associated with this gay mutant who was being talked about on CNN, which is bizarrely hilarious or ironic or sick, depending on how you want to look at it when many people perceive mutants in the Marvel universe as a metaphor for how gays are treated in the United States of America. Because Northstar outed himself in the pages of Alpha Flight, they didn’t want any mutant-related toys. They wouldn’t sell Wolverine in their stores. They wouldn’t sell Wolverine action figures because of the taint, which was insane. Particularly when you consider there were no Northstar toys at the time.

As we noted earlier this week, Northstar will officially get his first boyfriend — in the primary Marvel Universe, at least — with January’s Nation X #2. Hey, it only took 18 years …